Election for European Parliament

More Info:

Head of Government: President of the European Council Herman VAN RUMPOY

Assembly: The European Union has a unicameral European Parliament with 766 seats.[1]

Description of electoral system:

In the European Parliament, 751 members are elected by proportional representation to serve 5-year terms. Member states may choose their own electoral systems so long as they are based on proportional representation or the single transferable vote. A list of electoral systems being used is listed below, along with when voting will occur in each country and how many seats each country will elect to the European Parliament.[2]

[1] The European Parliament currently has 766 members. Following the 2014, the Lisbon Treaty will come into full force, whereupon the number of seats will be reduced to 751.

[2] The Council of the European Union also serves as a legislative branch of the European Union. Members are elected indirectly by member countries. In the Council of the European Union, all measures must pass a qualified majority of 255 votes. In the Council, 28 member-state ministers have 352 votes, the number of votes being roughly proportional to member-states' populations.

[3] Elections are held in three constituencies based off of the language spoken by the voter. Of the 21 members to be elected, 12 will be Dutch-speaking, 8 will be French-speaking, and 1 will be German-speaking.

[4] The threshold for preferential vote has been lowered from 6 percent to 5 percent in February 2014.

[5] Croatia was admitted as a member to the European Union on July 1, 2013.

[6] Members are elected in multiple constituencies. A party must clear a threshold of 5% in the constituency to be elected.

[7] The previous electoral threshold of 5 percent has been ruled unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court, meaning that there will be no electoral threshold for the election.

[9] Poland is divided into 13 electoral constituencies for EP elections. Political parties wishing to participate in the EP elections are required to register as committees for the purpose of EP elections.

[10] Elections in England, Scotland and Wales will be contested using closed-list proportional representation, while elections in Northern Ireland will be contested using single transferable vote.

[11] The AECR will not present a candidate for the European Commission President as they argue participation in the process would legitimate a federalist vision of the EU, a belief that they believe is only possible through the creation of a European demos.

[12] The EDP will support ALDE’s candidate for EU Commission President, Guy VERHOFSTADT in the election.

[13] New political party formed in 2011. Currently, there are 9 members in the EP that ally with the EAF.

[14] Unlike other pan-European parties, the members of the Alliance are individuals, rather than national parties.